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Summary

Shawl in McDonald tartan, made in Victoria, circa 1917. It is part of a traditional Scottish Highland's costume worn by Lorna McDonald for dance performances in Nullawil and Wycheproof in northern Victoria around 1917. This included a World War I fundraisng event in Wycheproof in 1917.The costume, which comprises ten parts, is almost identical to one worn by her twin sister Mavis which was acquired by the Museum from the sisters' daughter/aunt in 2013. The sisters' grandparents migrated from Scotland in the 1850s and were the daughters of Neil and Annie May McDonald.

Neil McDonald's parents migrated from Scotland in the 1850s and the family settled in the Nullawil and Wycheproof region of northern Victoria. Neil was first a farmer in Nullawil and then owned a general store there, along with his father and his brother. When his brother George opened a larger store in Wycheproof, Neil joined him there until he opened his own store in Marnoo. Sadly he died from influenza in 1919. Neil and wife Annie May's daughters, Lorna and Mavis McDonald, frequently wore their traditional Scottish Highland's costumes at community events demonstrating traditional Highland dancing.

Highland dance refers to a style of athletic solo dancing which developed in the Highlands of Scotland, and is often performed to the accompaniment of Highland bagpipe music. It developed into its current form during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the context of competitions at public events, particularly the Highland games. Highland dance has been subject to many influences from outside the Highlands. For example, it has been heavily influenced by the urban aesthetics of the patrons and judges of dance competitions since the nineteenth century.